Benitez may have narrowly lost his first match in charge of United 1-0 to table-toppers Leicester City on Monday night, but Sissoko insists the 55-year-old’s changes are already bearing fruit.

In particular, Benitez’s managerial experience – he lifted the Champions League with Liverpool, the Europa League with Chelsea, and the Spanish title twice with Valencia – will be crucial during the Magpies’ relegation run-in, says Sissoko.

“Yes we have a new manager now,” the 26-year-old Frenchman explained when asked about Benitez’s impact since being announced as Steve McClaren’s successor on Friday.

“We trained three sessions (before the Leicester game) with him, it was good.

“I think he has brought his experience, so that is good for us.

“We are working again this week because he is a fantastic manager and I think he can help us to stay in the Premier League for next season.”

Little more than nine weeks ago, Benitez was coaching the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in the Champions League at Real Madrid.

However, he has traded coaching at the very top level to attempting to keep Newcastle in the Premier League.

So do the players understand that Benitez has put his own reputation on the line by joining the Magpies?

“We (the players) were surprised to see him to come to Newcastle because normally he plays every year for the title and the Champions League,” Sissoko responded.

“Now we have nine games left with him, he will bring his experience, so we hope be in the Premier League with him next season.

“To do that, we need to win next Sunday (against Sunderland).

“Of course (we are surprised) because he worked with a lot of teams – Madrid, Napoli, Liverpool – some very good teams, so we need to listen to what he says because he’s one of the best managers in the world so we need to follow him if we want to stay in the Premier League.”

The defeat to Leicester left Newcastle second-bottom of the table, a point adrift of safety.

With Aston Villa already looking doomed, and a significant gap up to Swansea City and Crystal Palace above Sunderland, it now looks very much a case of one out of three to survive.

That trio includes Norwich City, as well as North East rivals Newcastle and Sunderland, who meet at St James’ Park in Sunday’s massive Tyne-Wear derby.

Given that the margin for error during the remaining nine games is now so slight, does Sissoko believe the Magpies will still be in the top flight next season?

“Yes, of course,” he said. “I believe in my team. I believe in the manager. I believe in everyone.

“We are a good team and we will be in the Premier League.”

And Sissoko believes United now have a better chance of survival since Benitez took charge.

“Yes, of course,” he added. “I said before, when you look at the squad we are a very good team.

“Here it was a start with the new manager; we did well but the result wasn’t good.

“We have some positive things, that’s good and now we need to keep going for the next game.”